Audi A6 Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT)

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I bought a 2002 A4 with a CVT about 3 and a half years ago. It had a little over 56k miles on it. About a month ago I started noticing that it would shudder under initial acceleration. Over the weeks it got progressively worse until I had to take it in to the dealership. I had dreaded the day for 3 years, but it finally came.

The service rep told me the clutch packs in the transmission had gone out and quoted me, $7,500 for a new transmission and $2,000 for labor. He told me that so many CVT&#146;s were coming right back after repairs that they no longer service them and now had a replacement only policy. All of this was in addition to the numerous other problems they found, broken control arm, worn out motor mounts, throttle alignment problem, etc but he didn&#146;t bother to give me the total because he knew no one was going to pay $10-15k to fix a $9,000 dollar car.

77,000 miles. The previous owner was meticulous and so was I. It&#146;s just beyond me how a car with a $37,000 sticker price could just be reduced to salvage like that.

Don't know if you ever found the problem with the ESP light, but I had the same problem in my A6. The service rep at the dealership told me it was the break-light switch (even though my brake lights seemed to go on/off just fine), which is located above the brake pedal, underneath the dash board. I was skeptical, but the part was $10, so I replaced it myself and it worked. The problem went away. It took me about 20 minutes to swap out the switch. Another common code thrower is what's called the "N80" valve, because it throws an N80 code on the technicians audi code reader. The culprit is a purge valve located under the hood, on the driver's side, in front of the strut mount. Google for exact location. That part was a 5 min swap out. the part was around $60, if I remember correctly.Good luck

My message responds to t6racer's and just about every other one in this A6 CVT forum. Appears we've all gotten schnockered by faulty engineering and/or failure of a major automaker to accept responsibility. Mine is a 2004 A6 3.0 fronttrack, one owner, with just under 72K miles. I just got the car back from my Audi dealer who reported that the roughness I get from the autotransmission shifting is due to slipping clutch discs in the CVT trans. Tech added this is not uncommon in these transmissions. He explained the trans would have to be replaced (@ $8400 parts and $1200 labor), because the CVT was not designed for internal repair work. [Warranty work was done by the same dealer in 2007, when they replaced a faulty TCM (control module?) after the gear prindle dash light activated, and that took five weeks to get the part, etc. Dealer provided a loaner A4 for the entire period.] Now I think I understand why my regular svc manager seemed to be avoiding me when the car was brought in this time - no one wants to deliver that kind of news. I'm taking this hard - always expected my A6 to be around well past 100K miles. The car will have to be limited use only for as long as it's operable. Class action suit? I'm not optimistic - they take a long time and the attorneys probably do better than the plaintiffs. No, Audi should step up and work with their customers here and now.

The roughness in auto shifting I get is not always apparent at start-up, but is more common in city driving when starting from a stop light or sign, or in hwy driving at low speed ranges. Can't say the shuddering in gear is very noticeable now, maybe it's only at an early stage. I do drive a standard shift car frequently, one that has a slipping clutch disc, and the feel I get from that is more like the slip-catch sensation you describe. The A6 CVT feel is more like a delay-shudder with an almost audible 'thump.' Thanks for your interest.

As a last ditch measure, we put type F transmission fluid into a friend's Audi CVT and it cured the problem--the Type F has a lot more grip---this might only work if the problem was a slipping CVT belt. You can apparently buy the parts to fix the CVT but I'd imagine the cost to rebuild everything would be substantial. I wouldn't try the Type F unless the car were virtually useless to you otherwise. Can't harm something that is already broken in other words.

Audi claims another victim. 2003 A6 Single owner, under 100k miles. We absolutely loved our Audi and had it DEALER_ONLY serviced, even the oil changes. Took it to Autopark Audi, Cary, NC for occasional issue with reverse gear. Transmission repair work was estimated at $1,100 on phone but dealer ended up replacing the entire transmission. Even billed us for replacing both catalytic converters, hook, line and sinker under the same pretext with a grand total of $11,000+. Unfortunately, foolish us, we made the payment to get the car back and now having to work with Audi Customer Relations for getting taken for a ride by the dealer. The same dealer serviced the car almost its entire life, did the repair work for $11,000+ and a week later appraised the same car with the brand new transmission for $3,500 as trade-in value. After all that, the Marketing personnel had the audacity to try and sell us another Audi that he had already picked for us!. Its a shame the AUDIs on this forum did not even make the 100K mark!!! :sick:

My 2008 Audi A6 with CVT transmission and 44,00 miles shifts and drives well. The slight hesitation when starting up in gear is a minor problem. My main problem is a loud gargling sound from the transmission when under load (accelerating). At cruise it is almost unnoticeable The local dealer says the car has no codes and runs normally but admits hearing the noise. A local Volkswagon mechanic checked it and says the noise is coming from the transmission. As a safety measure the tranmission oil was changed (expensive). I still have the noise. My question is does anyone else have this noise ? I ask because in reading the forums no one mentioned the noise. A reply would be welcomed.
Jim

@jimtex said:
My 2008 Audi A6 with CVT transmission and 44,00 miles shifts and drives well. The slight hesitation when starting up in gear is a minor problem. My main problem is a loud gargling sound from the transmission when under load (accelerating). At cruise it is almost unnoticeable The local dealer says the car has no codes and runs normally but admits hearing the noise. A local Volkswagon mechanic checked it and says the noise is coming from the transmission. As a safety measure the tranmission oil was changed (expensive). I still have the noise. My question is does anyone else have this noise ? I ask because in reading the forums no one mentioned the noise. A reply would be welcomed.
Jim
The problem do persists, not only on the A6 but on the A4 as well. I have a 2008 and the sound you mentioned is prominent, not only that, it also 'growls' and makes a howling sound when accelerating under load, along with the hesitation. kicking, jerking while picking up from dead stop. I finally took it in to the dealer for diagnose and they replaced the transmission - at only 39,000 miles!

I have recently bought an Audi a6 3ltr CVT transmission! the car wasn't expensive and it has 80000 miles on it. BUT I also have similar transmission problems, mine is fine when cold, no problem but when the box has warmed up about 10 miles it judder's at about 20 mph, once through that it's fine. I've just done 200 miles on freeways and it's great getting about 25 mpg. My thoughts are that as the problem only happens when hot,the oil thickness or condition could be a factor. I've looked at this transmission and there isn't a transmission pan like most auto boxes, is there a thicker oil that is available? Could an oil cooler be fitted, where is the oil filter if there isn't a lower pan. HELP!

I currently own a 2003 Audi A6 "CVT", which I love but I've been having some intermittent issues with what I can only describe as transmission issues.

It happens here and there but when accelerating, mostly from a stop my car will periodically, jerk as if it's slipping a gear or something ???

The dealer has already told me, while they cannot figure out the problem, that on average they replace more CVT transmissions than others.

Does anyone have ANY insight into this as an experience and/or a known issue ?

My car is well maintained (oil changes, maint., etc) by the book

Please advise.

TYTYTYTY.

Hi To all the audi owners, well let me introduce myself my name is Danial i run under the name Dsbespokeartz its facebook and a youtube channel, anywho ill get to the point well i have an Audi a6 1,9 TDI CVT transmission, symtoms are exactly as you described cost me 600 pounds to replace however i upgraded many things, so firstly it could be a simple TCM upgrade or low on oil or it could be the bearing// Located at the front of the gearbox where the spline groove insertes into the engine and it houses the forward and reverse clutch packs its a simple DIY job if your up for it I HAVE SENT LETTERS TO AUDI so many times kindly giving them the law lol, about how many times theyve been selling things which are [non-permissible content removed], america has actually filed a law suit and audi have paid millions to people check it out , anyway back to point its the forward clutch pack or the bearing on the front cover as audi compromise alot, the lip is a thin so the bearing wont come out however if you get a new front cover with the bearing the lip is much thicker so there learning.. anyway try these things and if not get back to me ASAP! Thanks alot for your time..